1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a mobile agent technique, and in particular to a method for moving/transmitting to a desired computer, an agent and a message that the agent issues.
2. Prior Art
A mobile agent is an agent that moves between computers, and conventionally it moves directly from a source computer to a destination computer. Specifically, when a destination computer is designated, a mobile agent tends to move to the designated destination computer, regardless of the condition of that computer.
According to the conventional method, an agent can not move to a destination computer when it is not connected to a network, because of a maintenance check, or when the computer is not active, resulting in an error. When the computer is connected to a network, such as the Internet, a countermeasure for the prevention of inappropriate external accesses, such as the employment of a firewall, is frequently provided. In such a case, since the mobile agent that attempts to access the computer is outside the firewall, the mobile agent can not reach the target computer over the firewall. This case also results in an error.
The above events can also occur when a mobile agent that is active in a specific computer transmits a message to a mobile agent that is active in another computer.
There is a case where a user of a computer that is the destination of a mobile agent seeks to limit the mobile agents that are active in the user's computer to suitable ones. In addition, although a destination computer may accept any mobile agent, it is desirable that only a limited number of mobile agents are active in a computer at one time (or for a specific time). In the above cases, if the only method for directly moving a mobile agent from a source computer to a destination computer is available, it may be inconvenient for the destination computer and the mobile agent.